Youngsters shine in CWI first-class Championship

In analysing performances in the just concluded Cricket West Indies (CWI) first-class Championship, it is heartening that the batsman with the most runs and bowler with the most wickets are young, gifted players.

Leeward Islands Hurricanes opener Mikyle Louis, playing in the eight-team tournament for the first time, amassed 682 runs from 14 innings at an average of 48.71.

A 23-year-old Kittitian, Louis also boasted of the most centuries (three), along with four half-centuries (four).

Left-arm spinner Joshua Bishop grabbed 42 wickets at 20.07 runs each from 323.4 overs for West Indies Academy.

Also aged 23, it was the first full season for Bishop, a Barbadian, who made his first-class debut in 2023.

In the batting, Barbados Pride and West Indies Test captain Kraigg Brathwaite had the second highest aggregate of 565 (Ave: 47.08) including two centuries.

Following were Kevin Sinclair (Guyana Harpy Eagles) 508 (Ave: 63.50); Aamir Jangoo (Trinidad & Tobago Red Force) 500 (Ave: 100.00); Keacy Carty (Leeward Islands) 496 (Ave: 41.33); Tevin Imlach (Guyana) 485 (Ave 53.88); Kevin Wickham (Barbados) 449 (Ave: 49.88); Jason Mohammed (Trinidad & Tobago) 443 (Ave: 44.30); Sunil Ambris (Windward Islands Volcanoes) 441 (Ave: 40.09); Jonathan Drakes (Barbados) 404 (Ave: 36.72); Carlon Bowen-Tuckett (West Indies Academy) 378 (Ave: 42.00); Demario Richards (Combined Campuses & Colleges) 378 (Ave: 31.50); Shamar Springer (Windward Islands) 367 (Ave: 40.77); Jewel Andrew (Leeward Islands) 356 (Ave: 32.36); Zachary McCaskie (Barbados) 353 (Ave: 29.41); Shamarh Brooks (CC&C) 352 (Ave: 25.14); Jahmar Hamilton (Leeward Islands) 352 (Ave: 27.07); Jyd Goolie (Trinidad & Tobago) 341 (Ave: 42.62); Kavem Hodge (Windward Islands) 334 (Ave: 37.11); Kevlon Anderson (Guyana) 332 (Ave: 33.20); Kadeem Alleyne (West Indies Academy) 330 (Ave: 27.50); Jeremy Solozano (Windward Islands) 330 (Ave: 30.00); Kieran Powell (Leeward Islands) 324 (Ave: 32.40); Tagenarine Chanderpaul (Guyana) 323 (Ave: 29.36); Kirk McKenzie (Jamaica) 323 (Ave: 24.84); Joshua Da Silva (Trinidad & Tobago) 322 (Ave: 46.00); Jonathan Carter (CC&C) 320 (Ave: 64.00); Romaine Morris (Jamaica) 319 (Ave: 29.00); Carlos Brown (Jamaica) 315 (Ave: 24.23); Teddy Bishop (West Indies Academy) 313 (Ave: 26.08); Alick Athanaze (Windward Islands) 304 (Ave: 33.77).

All told, there were 27 centuries.

In the bowling department, two other left-arm spinners – Jomel Warrican of Barbados (35 wickets; Ave: 17.51) and Guyanese Ashmead Nedd of West Indies Academy (33; Ave: 23.63) – were second and third among the wicket-takers.

They were followed by Rahkeem Cornwall (Leeward Islands) 32 (Ave: 21.56); Bryan Charles (Trinidad & Tobago) 31 (Ave: 17.00); Jeremiah Louis (Leeward Islands) 30 (Ave: 19.90); Pete Salmon (Jamaica) 30 (Ave: 26.23); Anderson Phillip (Trinidad & Tobago) 29 (Ave: 18.82); Veerasammy Permaul (Guyana) 29 (Ave: 18.86); Daniel Doram (Leeward Islands) 29 (Ave: 20.27); Shamar Springer (Windward Islands) 28 (Ave: 23.60); Khary Pierre (Trinidad & Tobago) 26 (Ave: 21.03); Ryan John (Windward Islands) 25 (Ave: 22.96); Darel Cyrus (Windward Islands) 22 (Ave: 26.95); Nial Smith (Guyana) 20 (Ave: 16.70); Gudakesh Motie (Guyana) 19 (Ave: 18.26); Isaiah Thorne (Guyana) 19 (Ave: 22.68); Jediah Blades (CC&C) 19 (Ave: 34.89); Romario Greaves (CC&C) 18 (Ave: 42.83); Johann Layne (West Indies Academy) 17 (Ave: 30.41); Abhijai Mansingh (Jamaica) 17 (Ave: 35.41); Gilon Tyson (Windward Islands) 16 (Ave: 16.18); Shaquille Cumberbatch (Barbados) 15 (Ave: 23.66); Ojay Shields (Jamaica) 15 (Ave: 32.00); Zishan Motara (CC&C) 15 (Ave: 36.33).

Of the top 10 wicket-takers, eight are spinners including five left-armers.

In relation to the highest average for batsmen scoring 100 runs and best average for bowlers taking 10 wickets, Barbados Pride all-rounder Roston Chase ruled. He played one match, scored 127 (Ave: 127.00) and took 10 wickets (Ave: 11.40).

The leading wicketkeepers were: Romaine Morris (Jamaica) 23 victims (22 catches/1 stumping); Kemol Savory (Guyana) 21 (20/1); Joshua Da Silva (Trinidad & Tobago) 17 (16/1); Carlon Bowen-Tuckett (West Indies Academy) 16 (15/1); Jahmar Hamilton (Leeward Islands) 14 (13/1); Shane Dowrich (Barbados) 13 (13/0); Tevyn Walcott (Windward Islands) 10 (9/1); Demario Richards (CC&C) 10 (10/0).

Top fielders: Teddy Bishop (West Indies Academy) 11 catches; Johann Jeremiah (Windward Islands), Shamarh Brooks (CC&C) 9; Mikyle Louis (Leeward Islands) 8; Alick Athanaze (Windward Islands), Rahkeem Cornwall (Leeward Islands), Kevlon Anderson (Guyana), Carlos Brown (Jamaica), Daniel Doram (Leeward Islands), Zachary McCaskie (Barbados), Shamar Springer (Windward Islands) 7.

Significantly, as many as 42 Barbadians played in the competition. Roshon Primus turned out for two teams – Barbados and Combined Campuses & Colleges.

The Richards brothers – Demario and Demetrius – had a special feat of representing separate teams as wicketkeeper/batsmen in their first four-day tournament. Demario, 25, played for CC&C and the 22-year-old Demetrius for Barbados.

A breakdown of Barbadians playing in the tournament (with number of matches):

Barbados Pride – Kraigg Brathwaite, Zachary McCaskie, Jonathan Drakes, Jomel Warrican (seven); Kevin Wickham (six); Shane Dowrich, Jair McAllister (five); Raymon Reifer, Shaquille Cumberbatch, Akeem Jordan (four); Shayne Moseley, Roshon Primus, Chaim Holder, Chemar Holder (three); Jason Holder, Shian Brathwaite, Demetrius Richards (two); Roston Chase, Kemar Roach, Javed Leacock (one).

Combined Campuses & Colleges – Shamarh Brooks, Demario Richards, Romario Greaves, Jediah Blades (7); Zishan Motara (6); Damel Evelyn (5); Amari Goodridge (4); Jonathan Carter (3); Shaqkere Parris, Roshon Primus (2); Jarion Hoyte, Kalvin Marcus (1).

West Indies Academy – Joshua Bishop, Johann Layne (7); Kadeem Alleyne, Rashawn Worrell (6); Nyeem Young (5); Joshua Dorne (3); Rivaldo Clarke, Ramon Simmonds (1).

Windward Islands – Shamar Springer (7); Tevyn Walcott (5).

Leeward Islands – Justin Greaves (4).

Guyana retained the title with 103.8 points, thus earning US$250,000.00. Second-placed Windward Islands (98.2 points) got US$100,000.00. They were followed by Leeward Islands 94.0, Barbados 92.8, Trinidad & Tobago 92.0, West Indies Academy 71.6, Jamaica 59.4 and Combined Campuses & Colleges 30.2.

Keith Holder is a veteran, award-winning freelance sports journalist, who has been covering local, regional and International cricket since 1980 as a writer and commentator. He has compiled statistics on the Barbados Cricket Association (BCA) Division 1 (rebranded Elite in 2012) Championship for over four decades and provides statistics and stories for the BCA website (www.barbadoscricket.org). Email: Keithfholder@gmail.com